In response to today’s announcement, my new reader (and new best friend in the world of bargain shopping), said, “I would love to hear more about your decision to have more.”

Well, I’d love to tell you, but I’m afraid this might be very controversial.

We seriously considered a “permanent solution” after the birth of our second set. The answer we received from the Lord was a very clear, “No, not yet.” And because we truly believe that children are a blessing, we felt that God was saying, “I’m not done blessing you yet!” Who would want to argue with that? We didn’t feel that we would never be allowed to take permanent measures, just “Not yet.”

Now, for the controversy. This pregnancy, like the last one, is what I would call a “surprise”. This may be deemed “irresponsible” in our culture, because there are nearly foolproof ways of preventing pregnancy. Hormonal birth control is the most popular, the easiest, and the most reliable. However, we have never considered this to be an option for us (we do use spermicides in tandem with basic natural family planning techniques).

I am not going to quote any sources here, not because I want you to take my word for it, but because I want you to do your own research (if any of this is of interest to you). After all, we can all find sources, especially online, to support just about anything we might believe. I believe, because of documented scientific evidence, that the pill doesn’t effectively prevent conception. “What?!” you say, “Then why does it work so well?”.

The pill’s original purpose was probably to prevent ovulation, but the higher doses of hormones necessary to effectively stop this process can be extremely dangerous to a woman’s body. So, as a solution, science has blessed us with the low-does pill! But the low-dose pills on the market today (which are relatively safe for women) do not effectively prevent ovulation. And, if an egg is present, the pill does little to prevent that egg from being fertilized. What the pill does do (with the exception of 3% every year) is prevent implantation (pregnancy).

Papa Bear and I believe that life begins at conception, not at implantation. And we are simply not willing to risk (whether that risk is great or small) “flushing” a newly conceived life for the sake of convenience, because, to quote my favorite children’s author, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

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